He did not expand on his government’s statement that Saturday’s Metrojet flight, which crashed shortly after leaving the Egyptian resort for St. Petersburg, “may well have been brought down by an explosive device”.
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“All customers booked to travel to Sharm el-Sheikh in this period will be provided with a full refund or can amend to any holiday now on sale”.
Egypt’s foreign minister, Sameh Shoukry, earlier said he was very disappointed by the decision to suspend flights, accusing the United Kingdom government of making “a premature and unwarranted statement” on the crash.
A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Peskov, insisted that aviation investigators were working on all possible theories as to why the Airbus A320-200 carrying 224 people crashed Saturday in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, killing everyone on board.
The “precautionary” move is to allow time for a specialist British team to assess security arrangements in the Egyptian resort.
Egypt’s civil aviation minister said on Thursday that his country adheres to worldwide safety and security standards and there was no evidence a blast had brought down the plane.
Emergency measures will be put in place at Sharm el-Sheikh Airport, and tomorrow’s flights will carry people who were due to fly back today and yesterday, he said.
All passengers booked to travel to the airport in the next fortnight can request a refund or change their flights, the airline said, while passengers delayed in Egypt will be given hotel rooms.
On the BBC, Cameron said: “We can not be certain that the Russian airliner was brought down by a terrorist bomb, but it looks increasingly likely that that was case”.
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond disclosed the Islamic State had claimed responsibility for the plane crash.
The Sinai Province Group has killed hundreds of Egyptian soldiers and police since President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, as army chief, toppled former President Mohamed Morsi in 2013 in a military coup.
Britain’s Foreign Secretary has said there is a “significant possibility” Isis is responsible for crashing the Russian passenger aircraft in Egypt.
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Prime Minister David Cameron also called an emergency cabinet meeting on how to start repatriating holidaymakers.
